Forever and Always
by Tangled4ever
Summary: Songfic inspired by Parachute's 'Forever and Always'. Modern ONESHOT


**Just a quick note… This is both my first Tangled story and my first songfic. This songfic is written for 'Forever and Always' by Parachute. Hope you like it!**

Rapunzel was sitting at the table, growing more impatient by the minute. The hour was getting later, and Eugene still wasn't home from work yet. She sighed, and looked at Pascal, who was sitting on the table.

"Eugene should be home by now!" she sighed. "He would've called to let me know where he was by now, right?"

"Maybe his phone battery died," Pascal shrugged.

"Still, it's not like him to be so late!" Rapunzel sighed. She waited a little longer, but still no one appeared in the driveway.

"That's it!" Rapunzel said, before she stood up and got her cell phone off the kitchen counter. "I'm gonna call some of our friends and see if someone knows where he is!"

Rapunzel turned on her cell, walked to the front door and stood outside on the driveway. About 15 minutes later, she came back inside.

"No one says they've seen him, Pascal!" Rapunzel said with a worried frown, "Do you think something's wrong?"

"I'm sure Eugene's fine! Don't worry Rapunzel, he'll be home soon," Pascal said reassuringly. Rapunzel sighed and looked back to the window.

Suddenly the phone rang (the landline phone, just so everyone knows). Pascal and Rapunzel gasped and smiled at each other. Rapunzel stood up and walked over to the phone-unit.

"I bet that's him now! He's phoning to let you know he's on his way home, and that when he gets in, he's gonna scoop you up in his arms and give you a big kiss 'cause he loves you with all his heart!" Pascal said cheerfully.

Rapunzel giggled, and picked up the phone, "Hey, this is Rapunzel speaking."

"Yes, that's me." she continued after a short pause.

"Guess it's not Eugene," Pascal said to himself.

"Uh-huh." Pascal noticed a worried look in Rapunzel's eyes and frowned.

"Oh my gosh!" Rapunzel gasped, a horrified look appearing on her face. Pascal knew something was wrong.

"Okay, well, thanks for letting me know," Rapunzel said, wiping away the tear that rolled down her cheek. She hung up the phone and sat back down at the table.

Pascal placed a small green paw on her hand, "Well?"

"That was the hospital. Eugene was in an accident of some sort. They said that I should come right now!" Rapunzel explained, trying to hold back her tears.

"Well, come on then! We need to get to the hospital!" Pascal said, crawling up her arm onto her shoulder.

Rapunzel stood up, picked up her handbag, grabbed her keys, locked up the house and got in the car. She put Pascal and her handbag on the passenger seat, before backing out of the driveway.

"You okay?" Pascal asked as they drove to the hospital.

"I still can't believe my Eugene was in an accident!" Rapunzel said, stopping to wait for a set of traffic lights to go green again.

She looked at her left hand, and smiled slightly at the sight off the stunning silver ring with its two heart-shaped emeralds.

"What are you thinking about?" Pascal asked, as the lights went green.

Stepping on the gas pedal, Rapunzel only spoke one word, "December."

Pascal knew exactly what she was thinking about. After all, last December was a very important month for her and Eugene…

_It was Rapunzel's first Christmas back with her family, and her parents had insisted that Eugene stay with them for the whole month. Christmas was only two weeks away, and Eugene, Pascal, Rapunzel and her parents were busy doing the Christmas decorations. Eugene, Rapunzel and Pascal had finished putting the lights, tinsel and most of the decorations on the tree, and were doing the final touches._

_"Hey, Pascal, look!" Rapunzel gasped, pulling a shiny piece of magenta tinsel out of the box of Christmas decorations and draping it over her shoulders like a feather-boa. Eugene, who was kneeling on the floor and had just started changing a blown light bulb, turned around and smiled._

_"Oh, look at me! I'm a typical diva!" Rapunzel said, using a posh English accent._

_"You don't have the right attitude do be a diva," Eugene chuckled, turning back to the light bulb he was changing. "You're too kind to everyone!"_

_"Thank you! Have you finished fixing the lights yet?" Rapunzel smiled._

_"Almost..." Eugene said, picking up a new bulb and pushing it in the socket. The second he did, all the lights went back on. "There! All fixed!"_

_"Good!" Rapunzel said as he stood up._

_"Wow! The tree looks great! You two have done a great job!" Rapunzel's mum, Mary, said, as she and Rapunzel's father, Keith, walked in the room._

_Pascal gave an irritated growl (which Rapunzel and Eugene, who quickly learnt to understand chameleon, knew meant 'Hey, what about me? I helped!'), and Mary chuckled. "Sorry Pascal, you __three__ have done a great job!"_

_"Thanks Mum," Rapunzel smiled, as her mum gave her a hug. All five turned back to the tree._

_"Looks like the only thing missing is the tree-topper," Keith said, stroking his beard. He walked over to the box of Christmas decorations and got out the Christmas angel. He turned to look at Rapunzel and asked, "Would you like to put it on, sweetheart?"_

_"Oh, yeah!" Rapunzel smiled, carefully taking the angel from her dad and walking over to the tree. She stood on her tip-toes, but couldn't reach up high enough to put it on._

_Eugene walked up behind her, and she turned to look at him, "Let me help!"_

_Rapunzel smiled gratefully at him. Eugene wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up in the air. Rapunzel reached up and carefully put the angel on the tree. Eugene gently put her back down on her feet, and they backed up to look at the tree._

_"It's perfect!" Rapunzel smiled, throwing herself at Eugene and giving him a big hug, looking at the finished tree over his shoulder. Neither she nor Pascal noticed Eugene give her parents a small nod. Understanding what the 'nod' meant, Mary spoke up._

_"Well, I don't know about anybody else, but I'm a little thirsty." Mary said, as Rapunzel and Eugene pulled out of the hug. "Who's up for some hot chocolate?"_

_"Yum! Yes please, Mum!" Rapunzel giggled._

_"If it's no trouble, then yes please," Eugene replied._

_"Alright then. Keith, would you come and help me please?" Mary smiled, as she walked out the room._

_"I'm coming!" Keith called, following her out the room._

_Rapunzel giggled and sat down on the sofa, "I love Christmas!"_

_"Rapunzel, it's only December 12th! Christmas is still two weeks away!" Eugene replied sitting next to her._

_"I know that! But still, the soft snow, the cool weather, the coloured lights, the singing, the joy... it's amazing!" Rapunzel sighed, scooting closer to him in order to rest her head against his shoulder._

_"Point taken!" Eugene smiled. He took a deep breath and took her hands in his. "Listen, Rapunzel. There's... something we need to talk about!"_

_A frown formed on her beautiful face, "Is something wrong, you know, between... us?"_

_"WHAT? NO!" Eugene replied, holding her hands tighter. "Rapunzel, everything's perfect between us!"_

_"Then, what do we need to talk about?" Rapunzel asked, still looking slightly worried._

_"Rapunzel?"_

_"Yes, Eugene?"_

_Taking a nervous breath and keeping a tight, yet gentle grip on her hands, he slid off the sofa, got down on one knee and said, "I want you forever, forever and always, through the good and the bad and the ugly. We'll grow old together, forever and always…"_

_Eugene reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, black, velvet box._

"_Eugene…" Rapunzel breathed._

"_Rapunzel, I love you, and I want nothing more than to wake up in the morning and know that I'm the luckiest man in the world, because I have you as my wife! Look, I guess what I'm trying to say is, Rapunzel…" Eugene paused and opened the ring box, revealing a stunning silver engagement ring set with two beautiful heart-shaped emeralds. "Will you marry me?"_

"_Oh, Eugene!" Rapunzel breathed, tears forming in her eyes. "Yes! Yes! Yes!"_

_A wide smile spread across his face. Eugene gently slid the ring on her finger before he sat down next to her and gave her a long, passionate kiss. After a few seconds, they pulled apart and gazed into each other's eyes._

"_I love you," Eugene smiled, with a dreamy look in his eyes._

"_I love you, too!" Rapunzel smiled back. Pascal crawled onto Rapunzel's lap and clapped excitedly for the couple._

"_Thanks Pascal," Rapunzel smiled._

"_Hot chocolate's done!" Mary called, walking into the room with Keith and a tray of hot chocolate._

"_Mum, Dad!" Rapunzel smiled, running up to her parents and giving them a huge hug once her mum had put the tray down, while Eugene watched with a content smile._

"_Congratulations, you two," Mary smiled as the three pulled out of the hug, Mary giving Eugene a look that meant 'why are you still standing over there?'._

"_Thanks, Mary!" Eugene chuckled, walking up to them and shamelessly wrapping an arm around his fiancée's waist._

"_Yeah! Thanks Mum."_

"_I'm sure you two will be very happy together!" Keith smiled, passing his wife, daughter and son-in-law-to-be a mug of hot chocolate._

_Rapunzel and Eugene smiled at each other before he placed a kiss on the side of her head, neither feeling the need to comment._

After driving for about 5 minutes they pulled up to the entrance. After finding a parking spot, Rapunzel picked up her handbag as Pascal climbed up her arm to her shoulder. She ran across the car park, and into the hospital. Once she made it to the waiting room, she took a deep breath and walked up to the front desk.

"Excuse me?" Rapunzel said. The women behind the desk looked up from her computer screen.

"May I help you?" she asked, giving her a kind smile.

"I'm looking for my fiancé, Eugene Fitzherbert."

"Oh, yes. You must be Rapunzel," she turned back to her computer, typed something into the search browser, clicked the mouse a couple of times and read something on the screen.

"Okay," she turned around to look at a nurse nearby. "Hey, Naomi?"

"Yes?" the nurse, Naomi, replied. She was a middle-aged, Native American woman, with her long, raven black hair pulled back into a pony-tail, a nurse's uniform on and her glasses perched on the bridge of her nose.

"Could you please take this young woman..." Naomi walked over to her and looked at the computer screen. "... to this room?"

"Sure thing, Delancy! I just came from his room, so no problem!" Naomi replied, and looked at Rapunzel. "Please follow me miss."

Naomi began leading her down what seemed like a maze of a million halls that never ended. "I'm guessing that your Eugene's fiancée, Rapunzel, right?"

"Yes, how is he?" Rapunzel asked.

"He's in a critical condition I'm afraid," Naomi replied gently.

"What actually happened? No one told me!" Rapunzel asked, even though part of her didn't want to know.

Naomi explained what happened as they continued walking, but Rapunzel could barely hear what she was saying. She only caught a few odd words like, "Eugene... driving... from work... some driver... skipped... red light... other driver... died at the scene... doing everything they can..."

After walking for what seemed like forever, they finally reached Eugene's room.

"One moment," Naomi walked into the room, and closed the door behind her. She came out again after about half a minute, "If you need anything, the other nurses and I are right down this corridor, so just give us a call!"

"Thank you, Naomi." Naomi walked down the hall, and Rapunzel walked over to stand in the doorway.

Eugene was lying in the hospital bed wearing a light blue hospital gown and was hooked up to a heart-monitor. He looked like he was in a lot of pain, but still smiled lovingly at her when he saw her standing in the doorway. Rapunzel put a hand up to her mouth, and tried to keep a straight face as she slowly walked in the room.

"Hey, beautiful!" Eugene said, his voice slightly weaker than usual. Rapunzel sat by his bedside and held his hand a little too tightly, but he didn't mind.

Pascal crawled down her arm, sat next to Eugene's elbow, before turning a sympathetic blue, "Poor Eugene…"

"Thanks for the sympathy, buddy," Eugene replied, before looking back to Rapunzel.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, fighting back the tears.

"Pretty groggy, to be honest," Eugene admitted. "But I feel much better now you're here!"

"If only my tears still worked!" Rapunzel sighed, remembering the time last September when he sprained his wrist and her tears hadn't healed him.

"Baby, the whole 'tears healing people' thing was probably just a once off," Eugene replied, lifting his hand to wipe a few tears from her cheek.

"Still, I wish there was something I could do," Rapunzel said sadly, resting her head in his hand.

"But baby, there is!" Eugene smiled.

"There is? What?" Rapunzel asked sitting up straight.

"Well, I know I would feel much better, if..." Eugene said with a mischievous smile.

"If what?"

"If I could have a kiss from my beautiful fiancée," Eugene finished hopefully.

Rapunzel giggled, before leaning in and kissing him on the lips, tangling her fingers in his hair. Eugene kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her waist. When they pulled apart, Rapunzel still had a small frown on her face.

Eugene sighed, "Rapunzel, baby, don't worry! Everything's gonna be alright!"

"You really think so?"

"Rapunzel, my darling, don't you fret! Just wait and see; you and I are going to have the perfect life together!" Eugene smiled warmly.

Rapunzel looked thoughtful for a moment, "It won't _just_ be you and I, right?"

Eugene chuckled, "Don't worry, Pascal will be there too!"

Rapunzel's head dropped and she frowned. Eugene took her hands in his, "And of course, when you're ready, we'll have our kids there too!"

Rapunzel looked up and smiled, "I'd like that!"

"So, have we thought any more about that 'house on the hillside' we were talking about?"

"Oh, Eugene, can we? Please?"

"Of course, I've already seen a few places on the internet that would be perfect for us to raise a family!"

"And we'll stay there forever, right?"

Eugene chuckled and held her hands tighter, "Forever and always, and no matter what happens, we'll still love each other, forever and always."

Rapunzel gasped excited, "I've got an idea!"

"What's wrong, beautiful?"

"Eugene, let's get married; right here, right now!"

A wide smile spread across his face, "I think that sounds perfect!"

Rapunzel stood up and walked over to the door. She opened it and looked down the hall.

"Naomi!" Rapunzel yelled down the hall. Naomi turned around to see who called her name. Seeing Rapunzel in the hallway, she beckoned a few other nurses and rushed up to her.

"What's wrong? Is Eugene okay?" Naomi asked with a worried look on her face.

"Don't worry, Naomi. Everything's fine! I was just wondering if I could use the hospital's phone to ring the Chaplain. Eugene and I have decided to get married right now!"

"Oh, that's a wonderful idea!" Naomi smiled. "Actually, he was just here a second ago. Alice, can you go see if he's still here?"

"Sure, I'll be right back," a blonde nurse replied, before rushing down the hall.

"Now, is there anything else you want us to do?" Naomi asked.

"Well, we don't have any wedding rings. Do you have any ideas?" Rapunzel asked.

"How about we talk to the couple next door? I've known them since high school and I'm sure they'd be willing to lend you theirs," Naomi suggested.

"That's perfect!" Rapunzel smiled. In the time they had been talking, Pascal had crawled across the floor and up to Rapunzel's shoulder.

Naomi chuckled, "Girls, you stay here and make sure Eugene's okay. Rapunzel, her chameleon and I are going next door."

"Alright, we'll come get you if anything happens," one nurse replied, as she and the other two nurses went into the room.

Naomi walked to the neighbouring door and knocked on the door.

"Come in," a feminine voice called through the door. Naomi opened the door and stood in the doorway.

"Hi Stephanie, Lucas," Naomi smiled.

"Hi Naomi," Lucas replied. "Is something wrong?"

Stephanie was lying in the hospital bed, her belly a little swollen due to her pregnancy, while Lucas was sitting on a chair next to her bed.

"No, everything's fine! I was just wondering if I could talk to you and Stephanie for a minute."

"Of course, Naomi! What's up?" Stephanie smiled.

"Well..." Naomi stepped into the room, beckoning Rapunzel to follow her. "This is Rapunzel, and Rapunzel, this is Lucas and Stephanie. They were close friends of mine in high school."

"Hello," Rapunzel smiled.

"Pleased to meet you," Stephanie said kindly. "So, Naomi, what do you want to talk to us about?"

"You see, Rapunzel's fiancé is next door. He was in a car accident, and we're not sure if he's going to make it..."

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Lucas replied, sympathetically.

"Anyway, they decided to get married here at the hospital, and we were wondering if we could borrow your wedding bands."

Lucas looked at Stephanie, "Well, I'm okay with it as long as you are."

Stephanie smiled warmly at Rapunzel, "We'd be happy to!"

She and Lucas took off their wedding rings and passed them to Rapunzel, "Thank you so much! This really means a lot to me."

"You're most welcome, Rapunzel!" Lucas replied. With a final smile, they left the room. Alice was standing outside Eugene's room.

"Hey, Naomi," Alice smiled. "I found him!"

"Good job, Alice!" Naomi replied, patting her on the shoulder before she turned to look at Rapunzel. "Are you ready?"

"Definitely!" Rapunzel smiled.

Alice opened the door and Rapunzel walked in with Pascal - who was proudly carrying the rings with his tail - sitting in her cupped hands, followed by Naomi and Alice. The Chaplain was standing next to Eugene, who was wearing a huge smile. Rapunzel sat down on the bed, put Pascal down, and took Eugene's hands.

"Dearly beloved," the Chaplain smiled. "We are gathered here today to celebrate the joining of Rapunzel and Eugene, in holy matrimony."

The Chaplain said a couple verses as Rapunzel and Eugene gazed at each other, their eyes full of love and affection.

"Do you, Eugene, take Rapunzel to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love and to cherish, for as long as you both shall live?" the Chaplain asked, looking at Eugene.

"I do!" Eugene replied happily, his smile widening. This won a few 'aww's from the nurses.

The Chaplain turned and looked at Rapunzel, "And do you, Rapunzel, take Eugene to be your lawfully wedded husband, to love and to cherish, for as long as you both shall live?"

Rapunzel looked deep into Eugene's loving, brown eyes and said, "I want you forever, forever and always..."

Eugene's eyes lit up as she continued, "Through the good and the bad and the ugly. We'll grow old together, and always remember... Whether happy or sad or whatever, we'll still love each other, forever and always! Forever and always, forever and always!"

The Chaplain chuckled warmly and held a hand out to Pascal, "May I have the rings?"

Pascal crawled over to him and placed the rings in his hand with his tail. Eugene and Rapunzel took the rings and in turn gently slipped them on each other's ring fingers. Surprisingly, even though they were made for Lucas and Stephanie, they fit the two (Rapunzel and Eugene, that is) perfectly!

"Well then, I now pronounce you, man and wife!" the Chaplain smiled, before stepping back. "You may kiss."

Eugene smiled happily as Rapunzel leaned down to kiss him on the lips. They both felt their hearts skip a beat, as their lips moved slowly, trying to savour the kiss. Naomi, the Chaplain, the nurses, and Pascal clapped as the newlyweds pulled out of the kiss, and gazed lovingly into each other's eyes.

Without warning, Eugene winced, a pained look on his face and Rapunzel turned to look at the heart-monitor. That's when she noticed it… The beeps were getting too slow.

"Rapunzel," Eugene said. Rapunzel turned to look at him.

His sweet voice was almost too low, as he said, "I love you forever, forever and always! Please just remember, even if I'm not there... I'll always love you, forever and always…"

**Wow, that was long! If you have never listened to 'Forever and Always', I highly suggest you do! It's a very beautiful song. For anyone who's interested, this is what I imagined the ring like: **

**Please review! ;)**


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